Meta

Not like I had been away for very long, but it was long enough to make me realize the ugly side of Singapore as soon as I reached home.

I was only away for 2 weeks, but I have been so accustomed to seeing friendly, considerate and responsible people that I am not used to being back.

Just today,

1. I experienced inconsiderate, selfish and aggressive drivers, including a red Mercedes E200 who forced his way in front of me, despite the ample space behind my car.
2. I witnessed 2 male drivers fighting over a carpark lot in Suntec City. They were quarreling and I didn’t stay to watch.
3. I was walking through some fair and I had brochures aggressively shoved in my way. Even after I declined twice, the flyer distributors were still very persistent and forced me to take.
4. I saw a male customer yelling at the petite Carrefour cashier. I don’t know what she did but he kept mentioning something about his receipt.

So I was driving to school this afternoon, when this van (GY5223B) cut into my lane.
I horned several times but the driver didn’t seem to care and just tried to speed off.

My car is obviously faster than his van, so I sped after it, took a quick glance at the driver and overtook him.
But I had to stop at the traffic light junction ahead because the lights were red.
What surprised me was that the van driver stopped beside my car, and stared into my passenger window.

I wound down my window and he began shouting at me in Hokkien.
I couldn’t exactly understand what he was shouting, but I managed to pick up something like “What is your problem? Don’t know how to give way? Can’t you see there was an obstruction in front?”

So I shouted back at him in English, telling him that I was already so close to his van and yet he still switched lanes dangerously. But, of course, both our lines were decorated with a lot of expletives. He started it first, I was just returning the favour.

I was already getting very agitated with this old prick, but I was going to be late for class, so I just ended the whole shouting with “f*cking hell get lost” and I drove off.

He started chasing me!
It was damn scary because I kept trying to avoid him, and we weren’t the only vehicles on the roads.
He attempted to use his vehicle to “block” my driver’s door several times but I managed to avoid him.

The chase lasted about 5 minutes, down the entire stretch of Upper Bt Timah Road.
The sudden raise of testosterone levels and the adrenaline rush wasn’t giving me time to think.
Since he was chasing me from behind, I wanted to just slam on my brakes and claim his insurance if he knocks into me.
Or I could just get out of my vehicle and take him on, but it wasn’t wise because he had another guy with him.

Before I could think, there was another red light. He stopped beside me again and was shouting stuff I couldn’t hear, because I wound up my windows. His body language was quite aggressive though, could tell that he was really challenging me to take him on.

At this point of time, the lights turned green. I waved my hand at him and sped off again.
Have to thank a motorcyclist who suddenly came in between us. I don’t know if the motorcyclist did it deliberately, but it gave me some allowance time to travel quite a distance, enough for me to “escape.”

This incident troubled me for the rest of the day. I kept thinking about it and felt that I should have really given the guy a piece of me since he wanted it so much. They were just 2 Chinese uncles in their fifties, surely I can’t lose and it won’t hurt that bad.

But if I had done so, I might get into trouble with the law.. And I don’t want anybody to be stopping me from leaving the country on Friday night.

Kinokuniya didn’t have ready stock for the book that I was looking for. I had to wait at least 3 weeks for them to order and get back to me.

I could place my order through Amazon, but it would take 2-3 weeks and they charge exorbitant shipping charges.
I didn’t mind paying a little more, but I decided to push my luck a little and tried searching through other online bookstores.

OpenTrolley Bookstore is a Singapore-based online bookstore selling more than 2 million brand-new books at discounted prices. Shop conveniently and securely at the comfort of your home and get your books delivered to you within 4-7 working days. If you wish to save on delivery fee, you can also choose to self-collect your purchased books at our retail partner Toy Outpost at Plaza Singapura.

I decided to give OpenTrolley a shot, and I found out that they had ready stock for the book that I wanted.
Their website also displayed the remaining quantities of the book that they had left in stock.

I submitted my order on the night of 30 July,
And on the 6th of August (Saturday), I got the book delivered to my doorstep at 9.30pm.

I got my book delivered on a Saturday night!

Total waiting time: 1 week!
And their books are at very competitive prices too.

If someone wants to learn the guitar, or start running as a hobby, he would often purchase a guitar or a pair of running shoes that is low-end and cheap. He would only upgrade his instrument/equipment to a more expensive model as he gets better and develops more interest.

But the thing about these low to middle range products, is that they are so cheaply produced with the lowest grades of raw material, hence resulting in very inferior quality.

I have seen so many people who gave up learning guitar because they couldn’t play it properly, since the guitar strings hurt their fingers so much. The same goes to people who want to start running, but after feeling pain in their knees or shins or ankles, they decided that running is not for them.

That shouldn’t be the case.

A hobby is an investment.
Trust me, when you start with a good guitar or a good pair of running shoes, it is much easier for you to love what you do, and you will definitely learn faster as compared to using something of inferior quality.